


As We Speak

by AkisMusicBox



Category: Skip Beat!
Genre: Alcohol, Chaotic Acts of Charity, Charity Live Stream, Christmas Eve, F/M, boys night in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28113903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkisMusicBox/pseuds/AkisMusicBox
Summary: With his girlfriend's flight is cancelled, Hikaru has to make alternate plans for Christmas Eve, but he's not the only one in that predicament. What will Hikaru, Ren, and Kijima do to pass the time?
Relationships: Hikaru Ishibashi/Momose Itsumi, Mogami Kyoko/Tsuruga Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 29
Collections: Oh Brother! Hikaru Ishibashi Appreciation, Skip Beat Winter Challenge 2020!





	As We Speak

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Point For Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20628407) by [AkisMusicBox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkisMusicBox/pseuds/AkisMusicBox). 



> Thank you to ncisduckie for organizing this challenge!
> 
> My assigned words were **frozen, champagne** , and **confetti** with the challenge word of **snowed in**!
> 
> While I used what was established in my fic Point For Me as the basis for this work, all you really need to know is 1. Ren and Kyoko are dating 2. Hikaru and Momose are dating and 4. Ren and Momose will be in Lotus together and 4. Ren and Hikaru are FRIENDS!

The contents of Hikaru’s fridge made him sad. Normally, seeing it stocked with more than beer and leftover pizza meant he was doing well, but today, it just reminded him that he was supposed to have company.

Well, he was still going to have guests today. Just not the guest in particular that he had bought the groceries for. 

_“It’s better to be safe than sorry,”_ Hikaru texted when Itsumi broke the news to him. _“We can have dinner when you get back.”_

_“I am SO SORRY!”_ she replied. _“I know you worked really hard on plans for this, but the snow is piling up and all the flights were cancelled. Me and Kyoko-chan are just going to be eating cake and chicken in my hotel room.”_

_“Sounds like a party to me! Stay warm.”_

Itsumi and Kyoko were only supposed to be gone for the week filming a few scenes and taking a few promotional photos in Sapporo for _Lotus_ and were supposed to have flown back late last night. However, in a turn of events that shouldn’t have surprised anyone, it snowed in Hokkaido. Their flights were cancelled. Nothing unsurprising. Nothing to be upset about.

Except that it was Christmas Eve. So, seeing the carton of strawberries and the bottle of sparkling wine in the refrigerator did make him a little mopey. 

Shinichi and Yuusei had returned to their respective families for a short break, so Hikaru couldn’t even spend time with his bandmates. Hikaru would have done the same thing… if he hadn’t had a girlfriend for the first time on Christmas Eve, which even his mother agreed he couldn’t miss. “I miss you dearly, sweetheart, but things are going well for your work and your relationship. I’d love to meet her sometime, dear, so when you feel the time is right and she’s free, we’ll come see you,” his mother said. It made him so damn happy to hear that.

But, his girlfriend was snowed in. So he spent most of the day making preparations for the Bridge Rock New Year’s Eve Charity Stream next week, playing with the camera and sound inputs and writing a few bits of legal-ese that he needed to remember. It at least kept him occupied until his company arrived.

Because, to Hikaru’s solace, he wasn’t the only one alone on Christmas Eve. So he, Ren Tsuruga, and Hidehito Kijima would be alone together. Hikaru had only briefly encountered Kijima in the past, but Tsuruga seemed to insist that he’d be willing and available to join. _“He’s a lot more sociable than me, as well, so I’m sure you’ll get alone swimmingly,”_ Tsuruga had texted. 

_Ding-dong!_ disrupted Hikaru’s staring contest with the refrigerator. He slammed it shut and bolted to the door. “Welcome!” he said. “Good to see you, Tsuruga.” He held a finger up when he saw not only Ren but Kijima holding grocery bags stuffed to the brim. “What's all that?"

Ren shrugged. "I was going to cook, so I bought extra in case I messed up. Can't serve something subpar to a chef like Kyoko." He pointed a thumb to Kijima. "Kijima, Ishibashi. Ishibashi, Kijima."

"Yo," Kijima said. "There's no real excuse for my bag besides that I didn't have a date for tonight at all." The contents clinked promisingly. 

Hikaru let them in and helped them unload the bags. "You can't tell me this is the first time you've spent Christmas alone," Tsuruga said, pulling out a third half-full bottle of brown liquor. "This is a bit excessive."

"You said Ishibashi-san was a newbie to whiskeys," Kijima said. "I was merely giving him a chance to do some side by side comparisons. What else are we going to do tonight?"

"Sounds like my kind of activity," Hikaru said, pulling out a small box with a Christmas cake inside of it. The top was covered in swirls of icing and cut strawberries. He sighed. 

"You can make her a cake any day of the year," Tsuruga said. 

"But this is his _first,_ so I'm told," Kijima argued. "For you, no big. For him, and for me, poor guy that I am, who was told by his agent that his image was gonna tank if he didn't have a date for today, big deal."

"No way, not everything in showbiz is that kind of a competition." Tsuruga opened Hikaru's cabinets, searching until he found whiskey glasses. 

"With your sudden jump to _Lotus_ and the return of you and Momose playing romantic opposites, guys like me are suffering for attention. I haven't had a major announcement in nearly four months."

"And you couldn't just find a date?" 

Kijima rolled his eyes. “There’s only so many times I’m going to get shot down, I’m maxed out.”

As Hikaru put the cake in the fridge, he realized that he hadn’t eaten much that day. He contemplated asking how weird it would be if he cooked spaghetti carbonara for everyone. By no means would it match what Kyoko, or even Tsuruga for that matter, could manage but at least…

“Competition,” he said to the fridge, cocking his head to the side. “Huh.”

“Care to clue us in, Ishibashi?” Tsuruga asked, uncorking a whiskey bottle. 

Hikaru closed the fridge and spun on his heel. “You work with a charity that takes orphaned kids on camping trips, right, Tsuruga?”

“Yes,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“Kijima-san, do you have a charity that you regularly work with?”

Kijima scratched the back of his neck. “I did a promotion for an animal refuge awhile back.”

“Hell yes,” Hikaru said, darting past the two and grabbing his laptop on the coffee table. “I know what we’re going to do tonight.”

* * *

  
Forty-five minutes and a few calls later, their stream went live. 

“Welcome folks, to this rather impromptu live event,” Hikaru said, leaning over his neatly arranged countertop. “Some of you who may be familiar with my personal life are aware that I kinda should be occupied tonight, but sadly, the weather conspired against Itsumi-chan and me.” He sighed and put a hand on his heart. “I know, I know. But I have to count myself fortunate that I’m not alone tonight.”

Kijima and Tsuruga jumped up from behind the countertop. “Hello!” they called in in unison. At that, the chat on the stream feed became an unreadable blur. 

“Thanks for having us over, Ishibashi-kun,” Tsuruga said. 

“Happy to have you both!” Hikaru clapped his hands together. “Now I realized about an hour ago we’re likely not the only ones not wrapped up in a romantic date this evening, so this seemed like a great way to bring everyone together while doing a bunch of good. The rules of the game are simple — whoever raises the most amount of money in five hours for their charity wins! We’ve got lovely representatives from the respective charities monitoring the amounts pouring in. Details below!” Hikaru pointed downward. “Kijima-kun, care to tell the folks at home what’s on the agenda for tonight?”

“Gladly,” Kijima said, then pulled a wooden cutting board out of the fridge with meats and cheeses on it. “We’re going very European tonight, starting off with charcuterie and I’m gonna talk you through all your best pairing options. Then we’ll talk about how to make your own dead-simple vinaigrette to pair with a light salad. We’ll take a break from that to do a whiskey taste test to see how far this guy has to go to develop a palate.” He slapped Hikaru on the back. 

“Then, on to our main courses. Spaghetti carbonara for those looking for something bulletproof, then scallops with mushroom risotto if you’re feeling wildly ambitious.” He gave Ren an accusatory stare. Ren grinned at the camera mischievously. Kijima waved a hand. “Don’t be that impressed, ladies, he got a _store bought_ cake. Absolute nonsense because making your own Christmas cake is dead simple.”

Ren put his palms on the counter and leaned in. “In between all of that, we’ll be answering questions and otherwise be having a leisurely night in, just the guys.” A _pop!_ Interrupted his speech. Hikaru and Ren looked over to Kijima, who had just opened up a bottle of champagne. “Hey!” Ren said. “Weren’t we going to save that for the frozen champagne punch?”

Kijima snorted. “This? Absolutely not, this is Dom Perignon!” He took a long drink from the bottle and passed it to Hikaru. 

Ren gave Hikaru a stern look. Hikaru smirked. “Sorry, but I’ve always wanted to do this.” He drank from the bottle as well, then said, “Let’s raise some money for charity!”

*** 

About an hour and a half, a half a block of cheese, and a full bottle of champagne later, Hikaru got a text. _“Any chance you can get a call from me and Kyoko-chan on the stream?”_ Itsumi asked.

His stomach fluttered as he read the text. He had told her about their plan, but no more than that — this was his hair-brained idea to deal with missing her and she didn’t need to work on Christmas Eve just because he concocted something for himself to do.

_“You sure?”_

_“Trust me ;)”_

Then, Kijima leaned in and looked at the message. “‘Trust me’ winky face?” he asked, waving tongs in the air. “I’m busy handling your pasta and you’re sending emojis?”

“Every good charity stream needs guest stars!” Hikaru scooted past Tsuruga, who was dutifully shredding parmesan, to get to the computer. A few seconds later, Hikaru said, “And welcome to the stream, Itsumi Momose and Kyoko-chan!”

“Hello boys!” Itsumi and Kyoko hollered.

“Hello ladies!” the three of them replied. 

“Hikaru-kun,” Itsumi said. “When I heard about your plan for this impromptu fundraiser, Kyoko-chan and I had a moment where we were going to just be loving, supportive partners and promote your good efforts to raise funding and awareness.”

Hikaru grinned. “Aww, that’s so sweet!”

“But then we changed our minds!” Kyoko exclaimed.

“Exactly,” Itsumi said, her tone taking an edge. Hikaru swallowed and gave a panicked look to Kijima, then Tsuruga, who also looked bewildered. “We have decided instead to partner up and support a charity that is near and dear to _my_ heart that supports reforestation efforts around the world. Yes, yes, it’s quite noble of you, Hikaru-sweetie, to raise money to pair underprivileged and troubled youths with music programs, but…”

“But you can’t have any of that without trees!” Kyoko cried out.

“Exactly. No trees, you don’t got _any_ of those things ya’ll are raising money for. So, right here, right now, we declare that with less time to prepare, less resources, and considerably less bandwidth, we’ll still crush your totals.”

“There will be no mercy!”

“Good people of Japan, if you like jumping on hotel beds, delivery food, and resourceful crafts made by Kyoko-chan from the contents of our room, my handle is at Momose Itsumi underscore official!”

“I’m making confetti as we speak!”

Hikaru’s heart was pounding out of his chest as he grinned like a madman. He wanted to fall on the floor laughing because never in his wildest dreams would he imagine being so lucky to have someone willing to throw down with him in front of the internet to make more than himself happy on this night.

Kijima had to swoop in and cover for him. “Ladies, the math says it’s going to be an uphill battle. I’m sorry, but it’s just not gonna happen when I’m looking so dashing in this apron.” It was a off-white one that said “Kiss the Cook” in English on the chest. Tsuruga had used a bit of masking tape over the word “Kiss” and wrote “Donate on behalf of”. 

Kyoko scoffed. “Um, Tsuruga-kun bought a cake. I’m making one out of the items found in the convenience store next to the hotel!”

Tsuruga gasped and dropped the cheese grater. “You said it was fine if I bought a cake!”

“Um, yeah, when it comes to romance. Not at all when it comes to victory.”

This time, it was Itsumi’s turn to chime in. “She’s making me flowers out of napkins! She’s an artist!”

Trying to control his glee, Hikaru leaned on the counter and clutched the edge. His phone kept buzzing with frantic texts from his mother. “Alright, ladies, you’ve gotten your edge by invading our stream. Now it’s time I stop promoting the competition and get back to this sauce. Reminder, folks, that’s at Momose Itsume underscore official if you want to spy on the enemy!”

“Bye!” Itsumi called. “You're still picking me up at the airport tomorrow?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Tsuruga-kun?” Kyoko asked.

Ren shook his head, smirking. “Yes, dear. Text me when you get on the plane.”

* * *

In the end, Kijima’s charity pulled out a victory in the end, but Hikaru believed it to be more to the animal refuge’s social media coordinator reposting pictures of Kijima working with abandoned animals than it had to do with their actual stream performance. It didn’t really matter who won in the end, because Ren ended up getting his face shoved in his store bought cake as punishment for getting the lowest total. It surprised Hikaru to no end that he actually beat Tsuruga, but Hikaru couldn’t take credit for it. His expression when Itsumi threw down the gauntlet had been gif-ed to no end, which led viewers to compete and try to make Hikaru and Itsumi’s end totals match. 

Itsumi just beat him, of course. 

_“I just donated to Momose-chan.”_

_“Your father just donated to Momose-chan.”_

_“He’s threatening to keep donating until he gets a promise out of you that he gets to meet her.”_

_“She seems so charming! What kind of food does she like?”_

_“Your father wants to know if she also drinks whiskey so we can finally go to a nice whiskey bar in Tokyo when we come visit.”_

He showed Itsumi the texts over ramen the next day. As she scrolled through them, she smiled. “Aww. Awwww. Hot and in large quantities. Yes, but strictly Japanese, never like the peat-y stuff.” Then, she looked up at him. “End of the month I have a week-long break. Do you think they could swing it then?”

**Author's Note:**

> Fan groups coming together to raise money for whatever charitable causes strike their fancy at the time are giving me life during the pandemic, so this is my love letter to chaotic acts of charity.


End file.
